David Millar has been controversially omitted from the Garmin-Sharp team that will be built around Andrew Talansky at the Tour de France this year.

The 37-year-old Millar today communicated via Twitter that he would not be in the squad after being told initially that he would line-up at the Grand Depart on home turf in Yorkshire where few British professionals will be.

Defending Tour champion Froome as well as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) will start the Tour on Saturday as the primary overall protagonists though it was Talansky that surprisingly best the two at the Dauphine earlier this month.

The Dauphine is a good litmus test for the Tour and Talansky secured the yellow jersey there earlier this month on the final stage putting more than a minute into overnight leader Contador. Froome won the race last year before going on to claim his maiden Tour title and Bradley Wiggins did the same before him.

“Andrew’s [Dauphine] performance was really just a confirmation of what we knew was his potential and it’s a really big step for him in terms of self-belief and the belief that he can be competitive with that small group of riders,” Wegelius told Cycling Weekly prior to the Tour team announcement.

“But internally the team was always aware of that and Andrew was always in first person more than anybody aware of that so fundamentally it doesn’t actually change the structure of the [Tour] team or the strategy. Andrew was always going to be one of our main priorities. Although it’s a really welcome and positive thing so close to a race like that, it doesn’t change the structure of the team very much.”

“Andrew’s overall race is going to be a big priority and then on the side of that we’ve got Tom-Jelte Slagter. His profile as a rider suits a lot of stages in the Tour de France so he’s the next tier after that,” Wegelius said.

“The rest of the team that we’ve put together is what we hope is a mix of experienced riders able to manage certain situations on the road, riders who can get over climbs and riders who can ride on the flat. I think every single one of the riders we picked could win a stage in the Tour de France in their own right.

Hard choices to make, but the right one. Millar said he was too sick to race. Danielson & Farrar both needed to be left at home. Tom kills himself to finish 4th on a mtn stage, and Tyler crashes out a lot and will get smeared in the sprints. GO TEAM GO!!!

Peter

Some of the shine for the Tdf has gone. Would loved to see Millar ride the Tour for the last time and see him bury himself for a possible stage win.

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